Catch me if you can
by vmcvey97
Summary: Never in a million years did Jane think she'd be sat here as BPD's most decorated sergeant, a mother of four and wife of the one and only Dr. Maura Isles, but she was. Never in a million years did Maura Isles think she'd be sat at her wife's bedside praying to a god she didn't believe in for her to wake up, but she was. A multi-chapter fic. exploring J&M's lives and their family.
1. Chapter 1

Jane sighed, looking up from the mountain of paperwork she was only half way through finishing. Her eyes grazed across the photo she had on her desk of her family. Never in a million years did she ever think fifteen years ago she'd be sat here; BPD's most decorated sergeant (who was still very much active in the force with her small team), a mother of four beautiful children: fourteen year old Alexander James (AJ), eleven year old Aria, six year old Harrison and little Felicity who was just four and of course, not forgetting her dear, dear wife Maura. She looked across her desk to Frost who had now fallen asleep on his desk, after the same gruelling day chasing after a cunning shooter the team had called it a day. Jane rose from her chair and stretched her back. She slipped on her blazer and grabbed her workout bag from beside her desk before walking over to Korsak.

"I'm going down to see Maur, then I'm off. You good here?"

"Yup, go home and be with your family Rizzoli."

"Night Korsak, and please wake up Frost so he's not complaining of his back tomorrow."

"Night Janie."

Jane left the bullpen and entered the elevator down to the morgue. She stepped out and heard soft music coming from Maura's office. She entered the room and saw dancing slowly on her own. Seizing the opportunity Jane silently slid into the room and wrapped her arms around her wife's waist and swayed with her to the music.

"JANE!" Maura spun around in her wife's arms and lightly slapped her on the shoulder chastising her for scaring her.

"Sorry baby. I'm off now, I thought I'd run home. You okay with that? Ma has the kids and I won't be back too late, it should take me an hour tops." The two women shared a sweet kiss, resting their foreheads together before Maura spoke.

"That's fine sweetie, just be back before bedtime." Jane kissed Maura's forehead not wanting to let go of her just yet. She squeezed her tight before placing another kiss on her lips and turning to leave. She was stopped by Maura's hand on her wrist.

"Leave your bag in the boot of the car so I know when you've gone, and please be careful. I love you Janie."

"I love you too, Baby. I'll see you later."

* * *

Maura glanced up at the clock: 8 p.m. Jane had left the station three hours ago. She'd missed Felicity's bedtime and Harrison's. Maura, AJ and Aria were all sat on the couch watching a documentary about jungle animals. AJ looked over at his mother.

"Mom, are you okay? You've been fidgeting all night? Where's Ma?"

"I-I I don't know! I'm going to call your Nonna and ask her to come and watch you guys okay?"

"Sure Mom."

Maura got up off the couch, on her way out the room she ran her hand through her eldest son's hair and kissed the top of his head before doing the same to her daughter.

After calling Angela she grabbed the keys off the counter, said goodnight to her kids before leaving the house and getting into Jane's Jeep. Before starting the car she called her wife's phone one more time before setting off down the route Jane usually ran home on.

Maura slowed the car as she came across a series of patrol cars blocking off the road. Pulling over she climbed out of the car and made her way over to the police tape. She flashed her ME badge and pushed her way through the crowd of officers. She was stopped by Korsak's hand on her arm, she turned and looked up at his face, his eyes were red and puffy and there were visible tear tracks down his face. He mouthed 'it's her' and Maura before walking off into the crowd of officers. Maura pushed through the remaining officers before seeing Frankie crouched down next to his sister holding her hand tightly. Jane's shirt was covered in blood and the EMTs were desperately trying to stop the bleeding. She rushed forward but felt two hands on her arms restraining her.

"LET ME GO! THAT'S MY WIFE! LET ME GO!"

Jane's head snapped round at the sound of her Maura's voice. Weak as she was she reached out a hand towards Maura. She coughed and blood dripped down her chin. She said something to Frankie before he kissed her hand and got up heading towards Maura.

"What did she say Frankie?! What did she say?!"

"You need to calm down M, she's scared, she won't admit it but she's scared. She needs you to calm down and go and hold her hand."

Maura rushed forward as the hand's restraining her had disappeared. She quickly took Frankie's spot, clasping her love's hand, running another through her dark locks.

"You've got to stay with me Janie, come on! I can't do this without you. Any of it. I can't raise our kids without you, I can't live without you Janie." Brown eyes blinked up at hazel and silent tears streamed down both their faces. Jane reached their clasped hands up to Maura's face and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.

"Maur, I'm so tired. I'm gonna go sleep. I love you."

"No! JANE!"

"She's crashing!"

Maura was pulled away from Jane as the EMTs surrounded her. The trip to the hospital was a blur, she was bustled around and pushed into Frost's car before being helped out at the hospital. The waiting was a blur, the talking was a blur and before she knew it she was sat at Jane's bedside listening to the click of the respirator keeping the love of her life alive. She grabbed Jane's hand reverently rubbing her thumb over her knuckles. Frost walked into the room and shut the door behind him.

"We're going to catch this son of a bitch Maura. He's not going to get away with this."

"Do you remember, 9 years ago, when Jane was late for AJ's fifth birthday party because she broke her wrist tackling a suspect? We had our biggest fight that night, I screamed at her for being wreck-less for not taking care of herself. That was the only night in 15 years of marriage that Jane slept on the couch. She's never been seriously hurt intentionally by risking herself since, sure she's had sprains and bruises, you'd be surprised how many bruises, but never once has she missed anything of any importance since, she's always home for bedtime, for diner, on Sundays never missed a birthday and is present for every single one of our month anniversaries. She's been so careful and I love her so much for that but now... She was running home Frost! She was on her way home to me, to our family and this BASTARD comes out of nowhere and shoots her twice? She has to get better Frost, she has to! I can't loose her!"

"I know Maura, I know. We're doing everything we can. I promise you, nobody in BPD is getting any rest until we catch this guy. I promise you."

Frost left soon after, leaving Jane and Maura alone again.

"You gotta wake up for me sweetie. You-you gotta wake up..."

Maura lay her head on the bed next to Jane's hand and for the first night in 15 years, Maura fell asleep by her wife's bedside praying to the God she doesn't believe in that she's live to see another day.


	2. Chapter 2

Frankie walked into his sister's home. He was exhausted, he'd been home to change after leaving the scene. He couldn't get the image of Janie lying on the road out of his head. Now he had to go into the kitchen and tell his Ma, nieces and nephews that their mama had been shot and was now in critical condition in hospital. He couldn't do it, Jane had always been the strong sibling. It had always been Jane that had been there for him and Tommy, rarely the other way round.

He pushed the door to the kitchen open and took in the sight before him. AJ had Harrison on his lap and both boys were asleep, Aria had her head rested on the table and Angela was sat at the head of the table with Felicity cradled in her arms. Frankie leant down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Angela's eyes cracked open and saw the tears streaming down her eldest son's face.

"Frankie? What's happened? Is our Janie okay?"

"Ma, I think you should wake up the kids, they should get to the hospital... Janie's been shot on her way home. It's not good Ma, it's really not good!" Frankie's head fell into his hands and allowed the sobs to take over him at last.

* * *

Two hours later they were all huddled into Jane's room. Felicity was now in Maura's arms and Harrison was clinging to his mom's leg. Aria and AJ hadn't let go of Jane's hands since they'd arrived. AJ turned round to the rest of the family and respectfully asked for a minute alone with his Ma. As each member of the Rizzoli clan filed out Frankie squeezed AJ's shoulder before leaving himself.

AJ looked around him taking in the heart monitor, respirator and various other pieces of machinery that was keeping his Ma alive. His eyes finally came to rest on Jane's face. "Hey Mama, it's me, it's AJ. I don't know if you can hear me, Mom said you could but I really don't know anymore. She's scared Mama... we all are, I've never seen her like this though... it's almost like she's broken. I know you always warned us that you might get hurt at work catching the bad guys but I never thought it would actually happen... I-I never thought, I-I just... I'm scared Mama, I'm really scared. You have to come back, you have to come back to us and you have to be okay, because you know what? I'm not ready! I'm not! I know you always say I'm so like Mom because well I'm her DNA and her brains and everything but I'm not all like her Ma, I have so much of you in me, and I need you to wake up so I can show you that! I need you to wake up! But I promise you that if you can't or until you do... I'll look after them Mama, I'm gonna take care of our family because we're Rizzolis and family always comes first. I don't think I'll do as good as you do but you can take over when you're all better. There's one person in our family who I really don't think can live without you Ma, Mom is so strong and so clever but she's not as brave as you and I think she needs you to show her it's all gonna be okay... we all do! I know you have this special connection or something with Aria and Harrison because you gave birth to them and you spend so much time with them and Fizz whilst I'm inside reading but Mama I love you so much, I never say it enough, I always focus on statistics or numbers and facts and never just spend time with you like the others and I'm so sorry for that! When you get better you and me are going to a Red Sox game and I'm paying and we'll go to the batting cages and play basket ball, I love you so much Mama... I'm still your little boy and I just need you to come back, I need you to come back and tell me it's all gonna be okay... I-I just, I-I I love you Mama."

* * *

"It's been a week Doctor, shouldn't she be starting to wake up by now? She's off the respirator, that's good isn't it!" Maura was ringing her hands stopping occasionally to twist her rings around on her finger.

"Doctor Rizzoli, your wife suffered some extensive damage, she's trying to recover and it's important that we don't rush that!"

Both doctors turned to look through the window into the ICU. AJ, Aria, Harrison and Felicity were all crowded round the bed. AJ was running his fingers through his mother's hair like he used to do when he fell asleep on Jane's chest. Aria was on the other side of Jane playing with her fingers. Harrison was holding onto AJ's spare hand and had Jane's other hand in his other. Felicity was lying curled up on Jane's feet, Aria was running her fingers through Felicity's long blonde hair.

"Look, I'm very sorry Dr. Rizzoli. You obviously have an amazing family but at the moment there's nothing we can do about it until your wife wakes up."

Maura didn't take her eyes off her children. She just nodded to the doctor before turning and entering the room.

"Hey Mom, what did the doctor say?"

"Is Ma gonna wake up soon?"

"Is she gon' be okay Mommy?"

"Please say she's going to come home soon Mom?"

Maura just looked at her children. She lifted Felicity off Jane's bed and the small girl snuggled into her mom's neck. Maura took a seat in the big chair by Jane's bed still holding onto the four year old in her arms.

"Your Ma is very sick, and when you're sick you need to get better. Ma's just sleeping so she can get better and come home with us."

"So she's going to be okay?"

"I hope so hunny."

Harrison turned to his Ma and squeezed her hand. "You gotta wake up soon Mama, everyone is really sad, and I really miss you. Mommy really misses you too, she doesn't say it, but she's really sad, she cries a lot and you told us to always look after Mommy if anything ever happened to you and make sure she didn't cry but sometimes I want to cry too. I want you to come back and make it all okay again. I really miss you Mama and we all really need you to come back. AJ wiped his eyes before nodding to Aria and taking Harrison's hand to lead him out. The two boys stopped at the door and turned. "We love you Mama, and you Mommy." Aria picked Felicity up off Maura's lap and kissed her mother's cheek. Soon it was just Jane and Maura in the room again, she shuffled closed towards Jane.

"You hear that? Our baby boy's acting all tough. He's right though, I miss you. I need my cuddle buddy back. Please Janie, you promised you wouldn't leave me, I need you back." Maura stayed by her bedside until the sun went down and soon found herself falling asleep, head resting on Jane's bed.

Jane's eyes flickered open and then shut again. She registered the faint beeping sound coming from her bedside. She looked down and saw a head of honey blonde hair rested on her bed, releasing her fingers she reached out and ran her fingers through the locks. Maura bolted upright in her chair, looking around the room to locate the intruder.

"M-Maur..."

"JANIE! Water! You need water!" After she'd given Jane a healthy drink she sat back in her chair.

"Jane you scared the living shit out of me!"

"Maura! Language! I-I love you." Jane looked up when she heard Maura's sharp intake of breath. "Don't cry baby, please don't cry!" Jane shuffled over in her bed trying her hardest not to show how much pain she was in. She lifted her wife up and onto the bed and pulled her close to her body. "Shhhh, shhh, you're okay sweetheart, you're okay." Maura clung to Jane as tight as she could. They lay like that for a while before Maura could talk normally again. "I was so scared Janie, I thought I was going to loose you. I can't loose you! I-I I just can't!"

"Shhh, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, baby look at me? I am right here." Jane pressed soft kisses to Maura's forehead before resuming stroking her hair. Maura leant up and pressed a chaste kiss to Jane's lips. "Sleep now, we'll talk in the morning."

When Jane woke up she could see light filtering in through the open curtains. Her eyes drifted around the room and landed on the four new occupants seated in the chairs by her bedside. Both her boys were on one and both her girls were on the other, AJ looked up and met his mother's eyes.

"Mama? Ma, are you awake?"

"Hey buddy. How you doing?" AJ gently stood and placed his sleeping brother back on the chair as he made his way round to the other side of Jane's bed. As carefully as he could, as not to disturb his mom and also not to hurt his ma he wrapped his arms around Jane and finally let his emotions catch up to him.

When Jane felt her son sobbing into her shoulder she wrapped her spare arm around his shaking form. "Shhh, Buddy I'm okay, I'm alright, shhh," AJ looked up and smiled at his ma.

"You're really okay?"

"I'm really okay. Did you think I'd leave you after you offered to pay to take me to a Red Sox game with my favourite little man?"

"You-you heard me?"

"Mmmhh, I love you too AJ, you know that right? Just because I didn't give birth to you or I'm not in your DNA doesn't make you any less my son. I love you just as much as Aria, just as much as Harrison and just as much as Fizz. You're my first baby. I love you whether you want to stay inside and read or play with Bass or even hang out with your mom, I will always love you no matter what and I don't ever want you to ever question that okay?"

"Okay, and I really do want to spend more time with you Ma."

"Well then we'll spend more time together but I want to do it doing something we both want to do, not something you put up with to make me happy, okay?"

"Ok-"

"MAMA!" Both Jane and AJ were interrupted as Felicity woke up and saw her ma awake. Maura stirred beside her and Harrison and Aria opened their eyes. "MAMA! YOU'RE AWAKE!" The tiny blonde raced over to AJ demanding to be picked up so she could cuddle her mama. After AJ placed her on the bed they were soon joined by their other two siblings.

"Hey, Mama. You okay? Should we call a nurse, does it hurt?" Jane smiled as Aria bombarded her with questions, just like Maura would undoubtedly do as soon as she woke up.

"A nurse would be great hunny. I must've all given you a real scare, huh?"

"Why?"

"Neither you or your brother has called me Mama since you were Harry's age!"

"Do you not want us to?"

"Oh course not hunny! I like it!" Just then the nurse came in and adjusted Jane's meds.

"How are you doing today Sergeant?"

"I'm okay. I've got my zoo animals here to keep me company whilst Maura rests." The nurse smiled at Jane and her children before telling her to call if she needed anything and that a doctor would be along soon. As soon as she left each of the children started asking her question after question.

"Shhh, guys, you're gonna wake up your mom. Lets use our inside voices okay?"

"Too late! She's awake!" Jane looked down at her wife who was still lying in her arms only her eyes were now open and gazing up to meet her own brown orbs. They shared a sweet kiss before turning to their children. "Where's your grandmother?"

"She dropped us off last night, said she'd be back this morning... Something about us spending the night as a family." Jane and Maura shared a look before smiling back at their kids.

"As much as both your mother and I both love you all. It's really important that we speak to her doctor and she gets as much rest as possible... So I'm gonna take you home now and then Nonna can get you ready for school whilst I take a shower and freshen up and then I'll be right back here, sound okay?" A chorus of 'yes mom's sounded through the small room bringing a grin to Jane's face.

"Now y'all come give me a kiss before you leave." Each of her children came and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek and a hug before filing out the room. Just as Maura was about to leave she felt a familiar hand snake around her wrist. "Forgetting something Dr. Rizzoli?" Maura surveyed the room trying to see if she had indeed forgotten something.

"No, I don't think so..."

"Maur, I was talking about me... I wanna get a kiss from the pretty lady..." Maura smiled at her wife's antics before leaning down and placing the softest of kisses against her wife's lips as she ran a hand through the unruly curls.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, stay safe, I love you."

"I'll be here, waiting for your return... I love you too baby." With that Maura got up and walked to the door glancing back at her wife before she left.


End file.
